Pro Audio Asylum Pro studio recording equipment and music production/industry.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Pro Audio Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: Overpowering Subs

Posted by b.l.zeebub (A) on November 20, 2010 at 10:14:09

In Reply to: Overpowering Subs posted by oughsosimple on November 16, 2010 at 19:48:47:

Do you mean you actually feed them 3100w or that you connected them to amps capable of delivering 3100w while you use usually a lot less?

In the first case I'd be surprised that they lasted this long.
In the second scenario: Welcome to the world of decent headroom!
Personally I like 12-20dB of headroom to keep things clean. That is to say that if during listening my speakers receive 25w rms I want an amp with a rated output of at least 250w rms.

For drivers the rule of thumb is that the amp connected should have twice the power output of what the speakers are rated at. I've got some Tannoys rated at 125w and they only sounded as good as they can when I used a 250w amp to drive them. At that point bigger amps did not make them sound any better anymore and I tried an amp that was capable of delivering 4400w (bridged) at 0.03%THD.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

The Cable Cooker

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---